As the number of COVID-19 cases in New Zealand increased to three on Thursday, some Kiwis may have felt disappointment or fear, a senior lecturer in psychological medicine says.
After 24 days of no cases, two were revealed on Tuesday before a third on Thursday. However, all three caught the virus overseas and not in the New Zealand community. Two tested positive after being allowed out of managed isolation due to a compassionate exemption, while the third tested positive during their compulsory stay in quarantine.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern have previously warned more cases in New Zealand were likely due to the increasingly serious pandemic raging on around the world. With Kiwis able to return to New Zealand, it was always possible some would have COVID-19, but quarantine measures are in place to catch it at the border.
Despite that, there has been a sense of frustration to see New Zealand's numbers rise after such a long period of no cases and the country being seemingly the envy of many around the globe.
Dr Christopher Gale, a senior lecturer with Otago University's department of psychological medicine, says disappointment or fear is natural.
"There have been a lot of people who in the first period of lockdown were very anxious about getting the virus and there was a lot of encouragement for people to be careful about social distancing and about hand hygiene, which does decrease transmission of the virus," he told Newshub.
"Then I think everybody had a huge sense of relief when we moved to level 1 alert and they felt they could go and do things. They could go to the rugby, they could go to church, they could go shopping.
"There has also been a fairly big hit on the economy and people have made considerable sacrifices. Many people have lost jobs or their businesses are in dire straits and there is a sense that we, as a nation, have sacrificed a lot to get down to zero people with COVID-19.
"When we get three new cases, there is almost inevitably going to be a sense of disappointment."
Dr Gale says New Zealand did get slightly complacent, thinking COVID-19 was just now a problem outside of Aotearoa.
"We were hoping with the borders tightly closed we could basically relax. But I think if there are more cases around, we are going to have to start being less complacent," he said.
As there is no evidence of community transmission - something New Zealand hasn't seen for many weeks - Dr Bloomfield said on Thursday we won't suddenly be moving alert levels and stressed again that more cases at the border were likely.
Dr Gale told Newshub that people may still be concerned about a move. After lockdown, many Kiwis are extremely tired and under new social or economic pressures as a consequence of the pandemic and the restrictions.
"I can understand people being worried about it but I don't think that is necessarily going to happen. Of course, we don't know what is going to happen in the future, but I do think ramping up the fear too high is not going to help anybody. Working together will help people," he said.
"Keep your friends and family going as strong as you can. That will get you through this."
This week has been dominated by news that the first two new cases announced on Tuesday left managed isolation despite not being tested beforehand. After the sudden death of a parent, they were given an exemption and drove from Auckland to Wellington, where they later tested positive.
While initially it was believed the women didn't have any contact with anyone during their trip, it later emerged they got lost on the Auckland motorway and had friends come to their assistance. For about five minutes, they had limited physical contact with these people, one of which has tested negative for the virus, while another result is pending.
Both Ardern, Dr Bloomfield, and the Health Minister have expressed disappointment that the two women could leave isolation without having a test. The Director-General of Health has stressed that no one should be able to leave without a negative test result. Compassionate exemptions have been suspended while authorities make sure the system is up to standard.
